Council will once again be considering a heritage designation for the former Victoria School Annex building.
Staff brought a report to the development and operations standing committee on Monday, April 23 recommending council initialize the process for a heritage designation.
Since at least 2007, there has been talk of designating the Victoria School Annex as a heritage building under the Ontario Heritage Act. Initially, the advice given by those who studied the property was to wait for the site plan application process to be complete before designating the building so land severance could occur before the land is under a heritage designation. A developer had an application before council to build condominiums on the site.
This time, the owner of the property has gone into receivership. The court-appointed receiver for the property found out about the discussion of designating the property under the Heritage Act and protested.
“They don’t believe it is possible for us to undertake this process at this time,” said Nancy Farrer, director of planning and building services for the town of Collingwood. “Our lawyer doesn’t necessarily agree with that.”
Farrer suggested the committee still vote in favour of initiating the heritage designation process and in between the April 23 committee meeting and the upcoming April 30 council meeting the town’s lawyer would speak with the receiver’s lawyer for clarification. Staff would then report back to council on the matter.
Farrer stressed there had been discussions about designating the Annex for a long time, and she suggested council not wait much longer to move forward with the process.
“I would like to have the building looked at it before we have another winter,” said Farrer.
Farrer said the process used for the former Connaught School building could be followed for the Annex. In the case of the Connaught building, council designated the entire property under the Heritage Act, and after new residential units were built, those new properties were removed from the heritage designation area.
There is also currently a property standards order for the site, which was issued by town staff to the owner of the property on Jan. 17, 2017. According to Farrer’s staff report, an inspection uncovered deficiencies on the exterior of the building such as missing or unsecured bricks, roof deterioration and foundation issues. The order was not appealed, nor was it complied with. There is an ongoing court case related to the order and the non-compliance. On the first court date (March 16, 2017), no one appeared on behalf of the defendant. A trial was set for June 15, 2018.
Clerk Sara Almas told the committee the heritage process will not impact the existing order on the property.
Collingwood Heritage Committee co-chairperson Betty Donaher urged council to take action to preserve the building and designate it under the Heritage Act.
“The heritage committee is trying to save this building,” she said. “Save it, please.”
The committee passed the motion to initiate the process subject to further legal advice, and full council is scheduled to vote on the matter at the April 30 meeting.
Victoria School Annex History
A Heritage Impact Assessment was prepared by Golder Associates in October 2016, and a Heritage Designation Report was prepared by Su Murdoch Historical Consulting in 2015. Both include extensive background details on the property at 400 Maple Street where the Victoria Street Annex stands.
“The Maple Street property was in continuous use for educational purposes from 1884 until 2001, resulting in a long standing association of the site with Collingwood’s elementary school-aged children, parents, staff, and administrators,” states the Su Murdoch report.
According to the reports, the history of the Victoria School Annex goes back to the 1800s. In 1884, the local school board decided to build a new school in Collingwood to serve the 1,300 school-age children in town. In April, 1884, the school board purchased the lots at 400 Maple Street for $1,100. The contract was awarded to Marshall B. Aylesworth, who estimated the work to build the school at $9,400. In May, 1885, the school board asked for an additional $3,000 to finish the school. In December 1885, students attended their first classes at Central School.
In April 1894, the school board started looking for estimates for a four-room addition to the school.
In June of that year, architect Francis W. Bryan designed a new school house with four rooms as a separate structure on the Central School grounds.
On Feb. 5, 1895, the annex was complete. In 1910, the annex cellar was excavated to full basement height and eventually the basements of the annex and the school are joined via a tunnel. Toilets are added to the annex basement as well.
In 1911, the school is renamed Victoria School. Declining enrolment meant the annex wasn’t used for a number of years, but it was reopened in 1945. By 1954, Admiral Collingwood School opened for Grades 6,7 and 8, and Victoria School became a junior public school.
In 1969 the Victoria School is demolished and the Victoria Annex housed the “Association for Retarded Children.”
Later the Victoria Annex was used as the Collingwood Alternative School. The annex was not used as a school after October 2001. It was fully vacated and sold in 2004.
On Jan. 24, 2007 the property owner applied to council for a demolition permit to tear down the Annex. Council introduced a motion to consider designating the Annex under the Ontario Heritage Act. On March 12, the demolition application was withdrawn and the developers commissioned a heritage impact assessment with a plan to build condominiums and residential units on the property. The developer also planned to convert the Annex to a four-unit condominium.
In 2015, the town commissioned a heritage designation report for the Annex to see if it met the criteria to be designated under the Ontario Heritage Act.
The Murdoch report concluded the Annex was a suitable candidate for heritage designation, but suggested waiting until the current site plan application was resolved because it included a severance application. The heritage designation would only apply to the parcel of property that contained the Annex building. Otherwise, the heritage designation would apply to the full property at 400 Maple Street.
Murdoch recommended a survey of the exterior and interior of the Annex be undertaken to find school-related artifacts that could later be used in historical displays - specifically chalkboards, school bells, and lighting.
The Golder assessment suggested immediate actions including: window and door coverings be secured and painted to prevent rot, a fence around the building to limit access, a video monitoring system to prevent entry and vandalism and a regular inspection and monitoring protocol.
Golder also recommended future actions including:
- thorough documentation, photography and notes be created before maintenance or stabilization work is done on the structure
- preparation of a heritage conservation plan that outlines how the heritage attributes of the building will be conserved, protected and enhanced
- stabilization of the heritage attributes through prioritized repairs by qualified heritage professionals
- development of an inspection and monitoring schedule
- designation of the Annex as heritage under the Ontario Heritage Act and request it be added to the Canadian Register of Historic Places
- commemoration of the site and Annex via interpretive panels or other media detailing the history, noting which elements are authentic and historical
